Indians Prospect Insider

On Thursday night, the Lake County Captains made history, as they played their first game in the Midwest League.
The team announced the switch from the South Atlantic League at the end of the 2008 season. The team had wanted to make the move for several years, but needed a partner, and when the Columbus Catfish moved to Bowling Green, KY and became the Bowling Green Hot Rods, the Captains...

Here are some last minute roster notes before the start of opening night in a few hours:
- Left-hander Erik Berger is opening the season on the Double-A Akron disabled list for an unknown injury at this time. It may just be a temporary thing and more to keep him inactive since the roster these next two weeks at Akron and Triple-A Columbus will likely be in constant flux. If I hear anything...

For the second straight season, the Indians advanced Single-A affiliate Kinston Indians failed to reach the playoffs. Kinston finished the year with a disappointing 60-78 record, the fewest wins in K-Tribe history. The Indians sandwiched a hot start and strong finish with a season of struggle, thanks to injuries and roster upheaval.
On May 14th, Kinston was in first place. A nine-game losing...

It was a magical season for the Akron Aeros in 2009 and it culminated in their third Eastern League Championship since 2003.
After making it to the Championship series and losing three years in a row, the Aeros finally broke through in what would be the final year for Eastern League Manager of the Year Mike Sarbaugh, who is now managing Columbus. The club has been to the Championship Series...

Paul Cousineau and I are back on the cyberwaves tonight to talk all things Indians baseball on our weekly on-line broadcast "Smoke Signals" from 9:30-10:30 PM EST. Tonight we will talk about the start of the Indians season and what some of our initial thoughts are about the team after the small sample size of games so far, with most of the focus on the starts from Jake Westbrook and Fausto Carmona....

The start of the minor league season is upon us.
Tonight at 7:00 PM EST the Indians' four full season affiliates Triple-A Columbus, Double-A Akron, High-A Kinston and Low-A Lake County all spring into action and kick off their 142-game seasons.
With the start of the 2010 season officially here, there will also be several new features this year at the Indians Prospect Insider (IPI)....

SportsTime Ohio today announced the network will carry twelve (12) Triple-A Minor League Baseball games this year.
Starting Tuesday April 13th at 6:30pm, STO will televise five live Columbus Clippers games. Scott Leo, Director of Broadcasting for the Clippers, will provide play-by-play with Watne Harer providing analysis. In addition, starting May 22nd SportsTime Ohio will carry seven tape...

Now that the Indians have finalized their Opening Day roster; the Columbus Clippers, and every other affiliate, can firm up their squad as well. A quick scan of the 24-man roster yields a lot of young talent and considerably fewer veteran placeholders than last season. Yes, these characteristics are indicative of a club in rebuilding (as opposed to win-now) mode, but these prospects are Major League...

Here is the final item from 2010 Minor League Spring Training camp. These are just a random sampling of the 2000 pictures I shot out in Goodyear two weeks ago when I was out there, and I have pictures of tons of players not shown here.
I received a few e-mails several weeks ago which were in reply to my inquiry as to if any family members would like some pictures. For those that e-mailed...

Jason Kipnis hit two, three-run home runs as the K-Tribe beat Lenoir Community College 13-0 Tuesday night at Historic Grainger Stadium. Kipnis, the 2009 Pac-10 Conference Player of the Year and first team All-American, hit the big bombs in the second and fifth innings. Behind K-Tribe starter T.J. House, the Kinston pitching staff limited the Lancers to just one hit.
Kinston starts the 2010...

As promised, here are the final 2010 stats from the Indians' minor league spring training camp this year. These stats are unofficial, and cover the 16 total games played that were either against another team or inter-squad. A big special thanks to Arthur K. for compiling the stats!
BattersPAABRH2B3BHRRBIBBKSBCSEAVGSLGAdam Abraham4641516800356101.390.585Abner Abreu5244393207614010.205.364John...

Okay, I have uploaded over 85 videos to You Tube this spring of players in action during spring training. My focus in spring training was to get as many pitchers as possible filmed since they are harder to see during the season, whereas position players typically play every night and you will see them anytime you go to a game. A big thanks to Michael Taylor for his help in editting all of these videos....

Well, finally, after about six weeks, the 2010 Cleveland Indians Top 100 Prospects & More book is finally available for purchase on-line at Amazon.com. To view the page for the book on Amazon.com click here. It's been a painstaking process the past month as there were some formatting issues which delayed the book from being available through Amazon.com by about four weeks, but nonetheless, it...

Here are the final minor league spring game box scores from Saturday's action. On Sunday morning all player who are heading for a full season afilliate will be leaving Goodyear, AZ bright and early and catching a flight to their new destination where the dream will continue as the regular season gets under way on Thursday night.
I'll have a final stats listing sometime this coming week with...

The Indians today announced that they have purchased the contracts of infielder Mark Grudzielanek and outfielder Austin Kearns from Triple-A Columbus and placed both infielder Russell Branyan (lower back rehab) and right-handed closer Kerry Wood (strained right lat) on the 15-day Major League disabled list retroactive to March 26th.
During spring training Kearns batted .300 (15-50) with 15...

Here are the season opening rosters for Columbus, Akron, Kinston and Lake County as well as those who will be in extended spring training. Please note, these rosters are subject to change at anytime before the start of the season on Thursday April 8th as some last minute changes could be made or injuries could occur. Players under each heading are listed in no particular order.
Also, the...

Here are the box scores from the minor league games on Friday, as well as some quick observations:
- Russell Branyan was back in the Columbus lineup but only played DH going 1-for-3 with a 2B and 2 walks.
- RHP Carlos Carrasco went 5 innings and allowed 3 runs on 7 hits, 1 walk, and had 2 strikeouts. The more interesting news is he only went 70 pitches and had to come out of the game...

The 2009 Akron Aeros won the Eastern League Championship, their third title in franchise history and third in the last seven years. For Aeros fans who ventured to the ballpark on a nightly basis last year they saw exciting baseball night in and night out with about as talented a roster as you will find in Double-A. In addition to the talent, the players were also hard workers and really meshed well...

Available IBI Books

The 2014 Cleveland Indians Baseball Insider book featuring the Indians' Top 100 Prospects and more is now available. Also, previous editions from 2008-2012 are also available at a discounted rate. Just click on the book image for more information. Thanks again for all the support!